This style of reform is necessary if China is truly going to liberalize and we at the University of Louisville's Center for Asian Democracy (CAD) were disappointed to see that Wang himself was not appointed to the politburo standing committee in November.

In June 2010, a nonviolent eight-day strike of 1,700 workers at the Honda factory in Zhongshan attracted international attention. Within three weeks, it was the third Honda auto parts factory in Guangdong province to suffer a work stoppage, along with plants in Shenzhen and Foshan.

In and of itself, a high-ranking official being dismissed in backroom party machinations is hardly a sign of improvement. Yet the event inspires hope that the more authoritarian Chongqing model is losing ground.

Somehow, perhaps alchemically, my Taoist persuasion connected me to a unique subset of Chinese culture, opened secrets of the city and beguiled me with the charms of surrounding Guangdong, a province that most tourists, drawn to the more frequently-visited tourist areas in China's northern throw, never see.